On Tuesday (19 December 2017) evening, a seminar on “Comparative analysis of traffic performance between roundabouts and signalized intersections using microsimulation" was held at Civil Engineering Department as part of UAP CE SEMINAR SERIES.

DR. BIDOURA KHONDAKER, PhD, PEngg., Team Lead, Research and Development (R&D) project, ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. and University of Calgary, was the guest speaker.

Her presentation was based on a case study which analyzes and compares the operational, safety and emission performance of multi-modal roundabout as compared to the signalized intersections using VISSIM and VISWALK micro-simulation tools. The presentation showed different tools and techniques on microsimulation and how they could be used to evaluate the effects of proposed interventions before they were implemented in the real world. By simulating pedestrian/cyclist’s movement and capturing the interaction with motorized vehicles, this research models the delay, travel time and network efficiency experienced by all modes. Safety surrogate measures have also been estimated to analyze interaction/conflict between pedestrian/bicycle and vehicle flow. The results of the analysis showed that roundabout outperforms the signal controlled intersection in terms of improved travel time, reduced delay, higher average speed, less number of stops and less waiting time. The emission analysis results showed that roundabouts can be considered a sustainable design option. The extensive safety analyses justify the use of multi-use pathways around roundabouts as it creates a safer design option for active modes. Thus, this research which incorporates operational, safety and environmental improvement measures for roundabouts provides an objective comparison with other types of intersection control design using microsimulation as a viable tool.

The hour-long lecture ended in a Q&A session. Several faculties of Civil Engineering Department attended the seminar. Few images of the seminar have been attached below.